Mere-exposure effect
by mythica magic
Summary: Sesskag oneshot: Kagome and Sesshoumaru reconnect in her time, but pursuing a relationship with the former Feudal Lord would be nothing but attraction based on familiarity. Kagome knows this, but...


_AN: Originally posted on tumblr to answer a prompt ask._

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**Mere-exposure effect**

They had reconnected, was the short version.

After two and something years of the Bone Eaters Well being closed, Kagome, with a heavy heart, had accepted it probably wouldn't ever open again. It was a chance encounter that she should pass him on an overcast day. That the sun should flit through the clouds just for a moment and catch his eyes- an unnatural white glow reflecting off his pupils and flashing them gold.

She'd grabbed his wrist, and the world had subtly changed on its axis.

From that day they'd become friends. And Kagome was quite confident in that estimation of their relationship.

Until one drunken night.

_Mistake_\- she admonished herself firmly. It had…been a mistake, hadn't it?

They were both lonely beings, trapped in a Time they survived in. Survived. Not lived. She who had been blocked off from the one place she wanted to reach and he who had lived through the centuries, world-weary. But the common ground of being heartsick for bloody battles and the bright, fresh scents of the Sengoku period surely wasn't enough to build a relationship on. It was familiarity. Shared experiences, sights and smells no one else would possibly understand. But that was all they had between them.

Which was why she'd resolved to tell him they couldn't do it again. They couldn't repeat that night- _mistake_. Kagome winced, lifting her eyes to his.

The air hung heavy and charged in his penthouse. She wasn't sure why. His home had become so comforting to her, much like him. Sesshoumaru leaned against the kitchen counter dressed in modern attire and clad in his glamour of short dark hair, watching her wring her hands. The hickeys and bite-marks sloppily peppering her neck and collarbone peaked out from beneath her turtleneck sweater.

"Kagome," he uttered, watching her jump. He arched a brow, "there was something you wanted to discuss?"

_Yes, there is_, she tried to force the words out. But her jaw had locked shut. She needed to say it, to place the boundaries down before things got even more out of hand-

Something lifted her chin, the rough pad of his thumb gliding over her jaw. Suddenly he stood far too close. It had started that way last time too.

Kagome was aware that her scent gave her away- probably fluctuating with raw emotions that bubbled up to the surface and pricked tears into her eyes. She inhaled, only to regret it when his addictive scent flooded her senses.

His mouth paused a breath away from hers. "Kagome," the soft timbre seemed to deepen into a rumble. He used to call her wench in the past, or girl. Now Sesshoumaru spoke her name like it were a fervent, divine word.

Somehow, her lips pressed to his first.

It lasted barely a moment- before she pulled away, aghast. That was the exact opposite thing she'd gone there to do! She was there to shut down further kissing, not encourage _more!_

Slit pupils stared, a touch of surprise on his inhumanly beautiful features. Their breaths intermingled. Something hitched in her throat.

A frenzy broke out. Lips crashed as blunt nails and deadly claws tangled in hair and clothing- yanking, pulling, wanting. Their bodies met, sliding, _rocking_ together as Kagome brushed her tongue inside his mouth, sliding it over a sharp fang. Sesshoumaru made a noise, kissing her fiercely and swallowing her breaths.

Maybe this was attraction based on loneliness mixed with proximity, availability, familiarity, but it felt real, and Kagome was tired. So tired of over-thinking and hurting. Her heart had been crumpled and only now did it feel like someone was smoothing out the creases and folds. They both needed it. Wanted it. Even as their touches and kisses were rough and biting, each one felt like they were healing a bruised part of her.

Kagome tugged him closer and curled her fingers in his short black hair. So different from days of old and yet he smelled so familiar.

It wasn't a mistake.

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_End_


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